Reclusive Sue Reappears In Hollywood

I’m bored with that rat bastard Sumner Redstone and his geezer ramblings. So see the new Vanity Fair article if you must. But I love this quote in it by Sue Mengers: “The consensus in the community is that what he did to Tom Cruise, and to Freston, was outrageous, you know, just to prove he’s still alive.” That’s my gal Mengers, whose recent reappearance all over Hollywood is a breath of fresh air. She used to be reclusive, or always at the side of David Geffen, but no more. Now she’s on her own and appearing everywhere. (Like CAA agent Bob “Bookie” Bookman’s recent reception for Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson.) Plus, everyone’s talking about her, and to her. That’s because, instead of the legendary dinner parties she used to host that were like The Dating Game for Hollywood stars, she’s holding intimate luncheons in her Beverly Hills home for Hollywood power players. (And sometimes tête-à-têtes with CAA partners who regularly pick her brain.) If you don’t know her name, long before there was an Ari Gold (or an Ari Emanuel), there was this one-time ICM and William Morris superagent who repped Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal and Gene Hackman and Ali MacGraw and Candy Bergen and Tuesday Weld and Peter Bogdanovich and Cybil Shepherd and so many more in their heyday. Not long ago, my phone rang and Mengers herself was on the line inviting me over for a chat. It was one of the most fun afternoons I’ve spent; not only does she look great, but she’s a wealth of info about what’s happening. And she still has those withering sarcasms at the ready. Of course, few will ever top her immortal one-liner to Babs when the diva heard she was on Charlie Manson’s list of celeb targets after director Roman Polanski’s Benedict Canyon home was invaded and his pregnant actress wife Sharon Tate murdered: “Don’t worry, honey. They’re only killing bit players.” Anyway, I’m sure that the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times and other media will catch up on the Mengers Phenomenon, if she grants the interviews. But I’m confident in the knowledge that no one has the platinum stuff I’ve got on her.